The Hard Part
by Kathaz K
Summary: A story about Addison's and Derek's struggle to become surgeons.
1. Chapter 1

"Are you excited?" he asked combing a strand of her perfumed hair behind her ear.

"Hum... err… Sure" she murmured something incoherent while frenetically looking through patient files. "Damn, there's nothing interesting today, just old boring post op care! How is that possible? In such a big city like New York you would expect at least a simple bloody car accident every half an hour!" she turned to the surgical board and searched throughout it, absent from her surroundings.

"Don't freak out, you will cut today. You always end up scrubbing in for something." he gave her a pat in the back. "Did you hear what I just asked? The new interns are coming in today!"

"You know I couldn't care less about it. They're children, green, useless and they just get in the way!" she coldly stated. "Look at the board, all the interesting surgeries are already taken!" The impatient doctor leaned frustrated against the nurse's station.

On the other hand, her college, friend and maybe something more, was quite excited. "Don't be like this. As strange as it may sound I actually enjoy teaching the interns fresh out of med school! They're eager for knowledge and they look up to us, we're like they're idols!

She looked at him, laughing sarcastically "They're here."

"I have five rules, memorize them. Rule number one: don't bother sucking up. I already hate you and that is not going to change." He was giving them the same speech he heard six years before. Although this was his final year as a resident and just by his presence he was quite intimidating, the rehearsed speech was still the best way to make sure the interns wouldn't cross the line from the beginning.

While walking to the ER, closely followed by his pupils, he took the time to observe them more carefully. Two guys, two girls. Two of them dark skinned, two of them light skinned. All of them a mix of anxiety and excitement.

He saw Ellis enter with her own set of new interns and she gave him a reassuring nod. He then took a deep breath and turned to the young faces of his followers.

"Behind these doors are your first patients. I want to see maximum commitment for every single one of them from each and every one of you." He declared in a firm tone. "But remember, you are interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain. I'm the responsible if you mess up. It is the name Richard Webber that is put on the line here. So you will learn and practice, but you will also listen and obey, are we clear?"

There was an evident tension among the four inexperienced doctors. Derek stepped forward giving a confident response to his new boss, while Addison, Naomi and Sam just exchanged hesitant looks and followed the two of them to the ER.

They were finally here, they were finally doctors, but the hard part was about to begin.


	2. Chapter 2

"Quickly, get him into a trauma room!" Richard commanded while carefully examining the man who lied still under his touch.

The interns were quick to react. Sam and Derek helped to push the gurney following their superior's guidance. However, when they reached the trauma room 1 they froze.

"Come on, don't just stand there." Richard pushed thought Naomi who was reading thought her pocket medical emergencies book faster than the speed of light. "Let's get him on the table. One, two… three."

Except for Naomi, who couldn't move a muscle, all the other three inters lifted the patient and placed him in the adequate position.

"He's tachycardic. Push 6 mg of adenosine." Derek looked around hearing the secure order from his resident. He felt the sweat sliding down his forehead. The nurses were nowhere to be seen. "Third drawer to the left." He reached the drawer, picked up the substance and then gave the shot to the patient as close to the heart as he could.

"He's stabilizing." Sam declared looking at the heart monitor.

The nurse finally entered and began to work on the patient, starting an IV to administer further treatment.

Richard turned to the four nervous interns "Abdomen's tender, abdominal fluid containing blood. What's his prognosis?" This time Addison was the fastest to act. "All the signs point to a ruptured spleen"

"Treatment?" Richard inquired.

"Emergency surgery to repair the organ" she responded after thinking for a split of a second.

The older doctor turned to the Asian looking nurse this time. "Nurse Robbins, page Doctor Amadeus and arrange for him to meet me at OR 3 as quickly as possible. Also, administer 12 more mg of adenosine" The nurse resumed her job

"You did well." Richard assured the interns. "Now go wait for the patient's family and inform them about the procedure" he ran off the room followed by the nurse, taking the patient quickly to the OR.

The four new doctors just stood there, stile shacking, hearts racing from what had just happened. A moment later they started blurting out nervous laughs. They had helped in the treatment of their first actual patient. No more hypothetic cases, no more practice dummies. This was the real deal.

They exited the room, later reaching the waiting area. Once there they asked for Sollis, which was the name found in the patient's drivers licence. A woman in her mid forties approached them.

"That's my husband" she said in a quite tone.

Sam stepped forward. "Mr. Sollis has a ruptured spleen, caused by the fall that was reported by the people at the construction site."

The women let out a soft sob. If they sent four doctors to give her the news, the result couldn't be good.

"Doctor Webber took him for an emergency surgery to repair the damage, please wait for further updates." He declared in an emotionless voice, although his reassuring smile transpired all the comforting the woman in front of him needed.

* * *

"I can't believe how great it has been so far" Dereck declared excitedly while biting his apple.

Three friends from the group of four were gathered at a small table having dinner in the cafeteria and discussing the events of the day.

"How can you be so excited? This was more tiring than anything we've done in med school." Naomi stated in a sleepy tone.

"He just loves the practical part plain and simple. But don't feel so down Naomi." Addison advised rubbing her friend's back. "The best is still to come. I heard that on the first day of the internship one of the residents or attending in charge chooses the intern who looks more promising and lets him or her perform a small procedure!"

"You're absolutely right!" Same exclaimed happily while joining them at the last vacant spot at the table. "I have been talking to the other interns and they got the same information. I hope Dr. Webber puts in a good word for us, he seemed pretty satisfied with our job today".

"Yeah right in the ruptured spleen case, because from that one on it just went downhill" Naomi glanced at Sam searching for support. "I can't believe how badly prepared we are for this, we have so much book knowledge but we never interacted with this time of real situations that much". She added, poking her half eaten salad.

"Naomi, please stop being so pessimistic. At least I think I rocked today. I'm pretty sure I will be the one doing the surgery" Derek grinned at Addison who rolled her eyes. His confidence was good in certain ways, but sometimes it just got really annoying.

Their conversation was interrupted by an experience looking resident who spoke loudly to the whole group of inters in the cafeteria.

"Hello, I'm doctor Ellis Grey."

A lot of whispering was heard travelling around the room. This doctor was well known among the interns and residents for her innovative work in general surgery. "As you may or may not have heard, one of you will be performing part of a surgery today, of an appendectomy to be more exact." She said sternly running her eyes through all of them.

"I'm chief resident. So I get to choose. Don't be surprised that I did it among my one group of interns"

"Damn it, this is totally unfair" Derek murmured.

"Doctor Sloan, please join me at 10 for the procedure in OR 6" And with this she quietly exited the room.


End file.
